'I Feel Sorry For Him': Hardik Pandya Disappointed For Gujarat Titans Star, Blames Himself For Defeat Against Delhi Capitals

With the scorecard reading 23/5 in five overs, the match was progressing on expected lines as the positions of the two competing teams on the IPL 2023 points table would have you believe.

Gujarat Titans, the table-toppers, had left Delhi Capitals, the team placed at the bottom of the standings, gasping for breath in Ahmedabad.

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Mohammed Shami was the wrecker-in-chief as he bowled four overs on the trot to finish with excellent bowling figures of 4/11.

DC somehow recovered and managed to post a decent 130/8. GT were expected to chase down the target with ease but DC made a match out of it and eventually won by five runs.

GT lost despite captain Hardik Pandya hitting a solid fifty and Rahul Tewatia hitting three sixes in a row in the 19th over to ignite hopes of another thrilling finish.

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Naturally, Pandya was disappointed with the result but was full of praise for Shami.

“I feel sorry for him (Shami)," Pandya said while responding to a query on Shami’s fiery spell with the new ball. “If you bowl like that, then you get the team on 129 (130), I think batters disappointed. I don’t think the ball did a lot. I think it’s just that Mohammed Shami’s skill set which he has and he made the ball talk."

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Pandya added, “Otherwise, I think for fast bowlers, the wicket did not have much assistance. But the way he (Shami) bowled four on the trot and got us in the game, full credit. As I said, batters and particularly myself did not finish and we disappointed him. It’s still a lot of games left. We’ll take all the learnings from this game and rectify it a little better and move on."

Like DC, GT also lost their top-order cheaply but Pandya and Abhinav Manohar got together to repair some damage with a 62-run stand for the fifth wicket.

“We were hoping to get couple of big overs in the middle but we couldn’t get rhythm. It was new for Abhinav as well and it boils down on how I could not finish the game. Full marks to the bowlers and full ownership I couldn’t finish it," said Pandya while taking the blame for the defeat.

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